Eetoo

by Robby Charters

  He was still using the ship Shan had given him. The craftsmen of the Heknosh clan still weren't finished repairing his. The last time he enquired, someone insinuated it might be irreparable. Others that he knew, had also been waiting a long time for their ships. In fact, he couldn't remember any ships being repaired and sent back in the last two months.

  Though he tried to subdue negative thoughts, there was that nagging worry brought on by that comment Blazz made. There had been no communication from the central planet of the Association for a while now, nor from Imtep, even in response to the department's enquiries. It was even getting more and more difficult to obtain permission to land on Ashta, the home planet of the Heknoshis.

  Heptosh brought their present ship down near the canyon wall. Eetoo helped Heptosh cut branches from nearby trees for a camouflage. Then they walked out of the canyon and down the path towards the village. His bag was packed with all the things they might possibly need, though it made it awkward to carry.

  Eetoo had said that he spotted Too Dha staying at an old cottage halfway between the old abandoned market and their village. He was puzzled as to why, but Heptosh thought it was handy, as they could meet with him without causing excitement among the other villagers.

  The walk through familiar country was probably just what Eetoo needed.

  After travelling half the morning, they saw the cottage a little way off the road.

  'This is it,' said Eetoo.

  As they approached the cottage, someone peeped out carefully. Then, there emerged an man with a long white beard and equally long white hair growing out of the back of his otherwise bald head.

  He began talking in excited tones to Eetoo in their language. Eetoo responded in tones of joy and respect. All Heptosh could pick up were his own name, and the word, 'Nephteshi'.

  The old man looked at him for a moment, and said, 'I greet you. I thank the one god, Elkhem that He sent you to enable my son on an important mission. I thank you for being his teacher.' He took Heptosh's two hands in his, bowed low until his forehead was on Heptosh's palms.

  'Come inside,' he said, still holding Heptosh's hands. 'We will talk. It is better if people don't see us.'

  They went inside and sat on a rug.

  As soon as they sat down, the old man said, 'Something evil has happened in the village. I had to flee for my life, and now I live here.'

  'What happened?' asked Heptosh.

  'A boy that used to live in the village, Ni Gwah, Eetoo knew him: he fell into the whirlpool and we never found his body. He has returned -- or rather a likeness of him. His skin has changed into a deathly grey colour. It is not like skin at all, but he has superhuman strength.'

  Eetoo exclaimed something in Famtizhi. They spoke back and forth. All Heptosh understood was Eetoo's use of the Nephteshi word, 'bionic'. Then the old man turned to Heptosh once again:

  'The young people in the village believe he has turned into a god, and he promises to help them, also, become gods. I looked into its eyes, and I see no living soul. I warned the villagers that this was not the same Ni Gwah that they once knew. Some have listened and refuse to follow him, but the rest have threatened to kill me if I won't keep silent, both because I say there is only one god we must worship, and that this likeness of Ni Gwah brings death, not godhood.'

  'Did he tell you of anything that went on in the land of the Kalodzus?'

  'Kalodzuland?'

  'We found him there, a day after I first met Eetoo, but he had not yet turned into a bionic. There were bionics there, and because we had to escape quickly, we were forced to leave him behind.' Heptosh didn't want to go into the whole story of Shan. 'We thought Ni Gwah had escaped, but it looks as though the bionics found him again and gave him the implant.'

  'What "implant"?'

  'It's a very small piece of machinery that goes under the skin either in the hand or the forehead. It becomes like a living cell that reproduces itself replacing the natural cells until the whole body slowly becomes bionic.'

  'An "implant"! That's what he promises to give all the young people.'

  'Then, he must be stopped. Has he begun implanting them yet?'

  'I think not. He says he must wait until the implants produced by his own body mature before he remove them, so he planned to go somewhere to fetch more. According to Ngowa he hasn't gone yet.'

  'Can we go there now?' asked Heptosh.

  'They will kill me as soon as they see me. They will be immediately suspicious of you, as a stranger. Eetoo could go. They would welcome him happily, but I don't know how Eetoo could stop Ni Gwah.'

  Heptosh opened his bag and took out his voltage shooter.

  'With this,' he said. 'If you attach a power cell of this size and aim for the middle of the chest, you can destroy a bionic. It's not of powerful enough voltage to kill a human, but some of the information suggests that there is a circuit in the chest area that is sensitive to electrical voltage. It will explode and kill the bionic.'

  'Voltage?' said the old man.

  'Power that makes machines work. This is also used to start a fire. It comes from a power cell like this.'

  'Ah, what they used to use with the metzig torch the Kalodzus used to sell us at the market.'

  Eetoo said, 'You know about metzig torches? But I never see one before Heptosh show me.'

  'You were very young when the Kalodzus stopped coming. But now, Eetoo, you have a difficult task to do. Do you love your old village?'

  'Yes.'

  'Then you must take this machine of Heptosh's, and use it to stop the bionic before it spreads its evil.'

  They spoke back and forth in Famtizhi. It sounded like Eetoo was doubtful, but Too Dha was encouraging him in a way only he could.

  Heptosh added some more: 'When you see him, you must remember, it isn't really Ni Gwah. It's not even a human being, so you won't be killing anyone. Ni Gwah is already dead. You will be bringing honour to the memory of the real Ni Gwah by destroying his imposter. Ni Gwah would want it that way.'

  Eetoo finally felt ready to go. Heptosh showed him how to use the voltage shooter, and he was off.

  21

  the native son approaches his old home

  the very rocks call out to greet him

  Wow! The old smells, the trees, the pond -- makes me wish I were here to stay!

  But I can't.

  I have to be strong for this. I'm don't know what I'm going to do when I see Ni Gwah. I just have to remember, it's not really him, I guess. I hope he won't seem too real.

  There's the village. It looks the same as ever. There's cousin Zhue with his sheep. I never thought I'd feel like this, but it's nice to see him.

  'Hoi! Eetoo!' It's Moo. 'Where have you been?'

  There's other people now.

  'Eetoo's back!' 'Look! It's Eetoo!' 'Eetoo! You're back!' Doo Bweh the baker is running out. There's Ae Maw, and Da. There's Nyu as well, and Gla. Zhue is running over here now.

  There's Uncle Zhue Paw. 'Eetoo! You must have gone far this time!'

  I didn't know people cared for me so much.

  Now they're all around asking me this and that, as though they thought of nothing but me all this time.

  It is good to be back. Maybe I shouldn't have ever left.

  'Eetoo! Did you know Ni Gwah is still alive?' That was Da.

  That's right. I'd better not forget why I'm here.

  'Yeah! Ni Gwah's been asking about you,' says Nyu.

  I'm sure it would be okay if I just sat with the lot of them and had a good time for a little while. They'll probably fix a big feed in my honour. I can smell home cooked food now!

  Maybe I'll just...

  'Why! It's Eetoo! I was wondering when you'd come!'

  It's Ni Gwah! He looks -- he's a bionic, but he looks like himself.

  But he isn't himself.

  I'd really love to sit and talk to him and the others.

  But Ni Gwah's dead. I was the last one who saw him alive.

  I'm just standing th
ere, not moving.

  But I have to do it. If I don't do it now, it'll be harder later.

  But I can't

  'Come, sit down Eetoo! I have a lot to tell you.'

  'He's a god!' whispers Nyu.

  A god! It's not Ni Gwah, but a false god.

  I take the shooter out of the bag. I aim it at him.

  When I pull this switch, he'll -- should I?

  'Eetoo! What are you doing? Answer me!'

  I wish he wouldn't talk that way. It sounds too much like Ni Gwah.

  This isn't strong enough to kill a human. If he's really human, he won't die.

  I pull the switch. Two lightning bolts shoot out and hit him in the chest.

  'Wa! Eetoo! What's that?' he says.

  His chest starts smoking, and sparks are coming out. His chest explodes and he falls over.

  'Eetoo's killed Ni Gwah!' someone shouts.'

  Now, everyone's shouting at the same time: 'How did he?' 'But Ni Gwah's a god!' 'He's dead!'

  They're mostly gathered about Ni Gwah, but now Cousin Zhue looks up. 'Eetoo has killed our god! Should he not die?'

  'Yes!' says someone else.

  Now they want my blood -- almost all the guys in the village!

  What have I done? It's as though I'm suddenly a criminal!

  Doo Bweh the baker is closer to me. He's coming at me to grab me.

  I shoot him with the shooter at a lower setting.

  'Aaaah!' He steps back, but the others are facing me.

  I can tell this is getting low. I send some lightning at them at an even lower setting, to drive them back, then I turn and run.

  I'm doing all sorts of things that only a desperate criminal would do!

  Most of them are between me and the way I came, so I have to run the other way. I'll cut across the field later.

  They're chasing me.

  I'm running up the main path through the village that goes up the hill. If I don't turn off soon it'll be hard for me to go off towards Venerable's house, but they're too close for that. Someone's already running off that way to catch me coming back. One of them is calling for Ju Paw who lives at the end. He sticks his head out just as I'm running past him.

  There's nothing for it but to go up the mountain.

  There I was, happy because they were all glad to see me. Now, they all want to kill me!

  I'm normally a good runner, but I'm not used to the gravity here anymore. At least the mountains aren't so steep.

  Was I really right to shoot the thing at Ni Gwah? Should I have followed my heart? What was my heart saying?

  If I go up, there's a couple of ways to get down again, but it looks like some of them are going another way around to meet me.

  What am I going to do?

  I'm in the mountains now.

  If I don't turn down one of the other paths, I'll be trapped. I'm going to be trapped anyway.

  Up this way there's only the waterfall, and then the ... -- wait. I have an idea...

  22

  I, Neuryzh had been concerned for quite some time concerning my borunñnvotzp. I had been building it for about two and a half celestial ages -- that would be roughly equal to 100 human years as that species counts time. That is a long time to be working on one borunñnvotzp.

  When an Utz completes a borunñnvotzp, one gives it to a friend. At the dawn of the universe, when Utzes generally lived within a single stellar cluster, there was no problem in finding a fellow Utz. Even when we began to spread out over the galaxy, and to other galaxies, we usually met an Utz at least once every celestial age.

  Now and then, we'd share the experience with a Groki. In those days, many of them also indulged in the art form. Though the Utz and the Groki are sub-species of the same root, a Groki life cycle is much shorter, their gestation period being only one celestial age. Thus, they have multiplied rapidly and have filled this galaxy and one or two others. They are not hard to find at all. However, they reached a stage in their cultural development where they no longer considered it important to give away their borunñnvotzp. Those who had nurtured one to maturity began to succumb to the temptation to hold on to it. It's the giving away of a borunñnvotzp that constitutes the climax of the experience, so when they stopped giving them away, that rather defeated the purpose in starting one -- although some would bequeath theirs to an heir at their death, so with some it has remained a generational thing. In my opinion, the lack of giving of the borunñnvotzp been one of the causes of their becoming a generally self-centred and, to some, an unattractive species.

  As I said, I had my borunñnvotzp about two and a half celestial ages, and I felt that I was in danger of becoming overly protective of it. I had not met another Utz for at least two celestial ages.

  Some Groki had just moved to our planet of Tok. I, rather half seriously, mentioned to my human friend, Heptosh, that the Groki were the only candidates I had found so far for my borunñnvotzp. He expressed his revulsion to the idea. Later, I mentioned the predicament to Friend Fra, and he was equally opposed to it.

  I laid the idea aside for a while, and took a trip about the galaxy to see if and where Utzes could be found. I took a young human companion with me. Utzes were certainly about. They've neither increased nor decreased in number. If one keeps oneself out of trouble, an Utz can go on living forever. This makes up for our extremely slow reproduction cycle. However, they lived in places that could be impossible to find -- especially with travel restrictions the way they are in most sectors.

  I suppose if one of them sent out a mating call, I could have pinpointed their location with enough accuracy as would have allowed me to go straight to them and avoid Groki local detection. However, since I wasn't in need of a mate at the moment, I would have been interfering with the fulfilling of someone's needs of a different sort. Besides, there had been only three mating calls made in this galaxy in the last 100 years. I did make a stop-by in Zonch, our birth planet, where all five young Utzes were being raised and trained, but there, they're either too young or too old for a borunñnvotzp the likes of mine.

  That left me with only the Groki option.

  I had got to know the Groki, Blazz, on a surface level. I found him to be pleasant, and open to conversation -- as long as I avoided the subject of humans. He had had experiences common to most Groki, which caused him to be negative towards that species. That is only natural as Groki and Humans share so many traits in common. Creatures that are too much alike do tend to find one another repulsive. If I remember, I may have had similar attitudes when I was a youth.

  It occurred to me that the theme of my borunñnvotzp could be just what may help him break into a new stage of his development. There was also the risk that he might not take it as seriously as I felt it deserved. The giving of a borunñnvotzp requires a level of trust, and great risk of post-borunñnvotzp depression. In that case, his lack of seriousness over the matter could be devastating. The longer one goes without giving it away, the greater the risk.

  But I had to give away my borunñnvotzp.

  I weighed the potential good that could come of it against the potential harm. I decided to take the risk. I paid him a visit at a cave he had been occupying since he arrived on Tok.

  He invited me in.

  I must say he had decorated his cave splendidly. Since Groki left off creating the borunñnvotzp they have taken up other art forms, such as that of the Junxzts, the carving of rocks, and the Vingle art of creative robotic devices. Friend Blazz is really quite an artist in the robotic field, and he had also done some rock sculpting since he arrived. The entrance to one of the passages was beautifully done

  We talked a bit about various of his art pieces.

  One of his robotic pieces was an object that remained suspended in an empty corner of his dwelling, and continuously changed colour and shape. Sometimes it split into a hundreds of tiny balls that shot outward, went into an orbit, and then returned to their common centre.

  I stood and admired the graceful movement of the
device while Blazz prepared his holograph frame to show me yet another work of art.

  The holograph frame showed a story he had created -- undoubtedly from Groki history, particularly concentrating on aspects of their relations with humans. There were pirate raids on Groki ships, human invasions of Groki planets, humans torturing their captive Grokis; in all I saw a totally different picture of humanity than I had from most local sources. I must admit that his depiction of humans' physical appearance rather exaggerated some of their more hideous features -- nothing of the cute loveable creatures I have come to know. He also highlighted their weaker side, showing them as being individually weak and vulnerable, but as a collective whole, a major thorn in the side of the peace loving Groki community. In fact, the production graphically conveyed the impression of a galactic empire of cockroaches.

  Though I knew it was the typical Groki experience of humanity, I couldn't help but think something was missing.

  'There's something about the human species that makes them different from the rest of us,' I began.

  'That's for certain!'

  'I don't mean in the obvious way. I can't help feel that there's a special reason they were birthed -- something of the Supreme One which He bequeathed to that species -- though perhaps they, as a whole, have yet to even realise it themselves.'

  'They'd better realise it soon. They won't be around much longer, will they!' He retorted.

  'I suppose --' I thought it better to lay off that subject.

  After a pause, I asked him, 'Have you ever received a borunñnvotzp?'

  'I never have,' was Blazz's reply. 'One of my elder relatives used to make one, which he left to my father at his death. Though he appreciated it very much, he never made one himself. I had seen some of the images from it before my father received it, and that's where I got some of the ideas for the holograph. My great uncle had fought in some of the human wars.'

  'I have one I've been working on for quite some time,' I ventured. 'Would you honour me by being the recipient?'

  'Hmmm! I've always wondered would the experience was like.'